by Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances, Kilinochchi, May 12, 2025
Chairperson and Committee Members
Core Group on Sri Lanka
United Nations Human Rights Council
Geneva
Dear Sirs/Madams,
We, the relatives of those who were forcibly disappeared by the Sri Lankan
security forces and affiliated paramilitary groups in the Northern and
Eastern Provinces, have been struggling for justice for over sixteen years. we
have been holding a continuous protest outside the Kandaswamy Temple in
Kilinochchi Since 20th February 2017. Now it is exceeding 3000 days.
Tragically, hundreds of parents who stood with us in this fight have passed
away without ever learning the fate of their missing children.
Over these long years, some cases dating back as far as four decades, we have
tirelessly exposed the Sri Lankan government’s pattern of deception to the
international community in our pursuit of truth and justice. The recent
adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution 60/1, led by the United
Kingdom and co-sponsored by sixty nations, has offered us renewed hope.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who made that resolution possible.
As the three-year documentation mandate of the Office on Sri Lanka and
Accountability Project (OSLAP) nears its conclusion in September, we take
this moment to acknowledge the immense and critical work of the OSLAP
team. Their efforts in collecting and safeguarding our evidence have been
vital. We believe that extending this mandate would be a profound act of
solidarity and support.
We therefore respectfully urge the following actions:
Refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the UN
Security Council, to ensure accountability for the atrocity crimes committed
during the final stages of the civil war and the ongoing human rights
violations.
Adopt a follow-up resolution that extends OSLAP’s work and establishes a
concrete international judicial mechanism to investigate and prosecute those
responsible for enforced disappearances.
Extend OSLAP’s documentation mandate beyond September, enabling them
to continue their essential work on our behalf.
For over a decade, domestic mechanisms in Sri Lanka have failed to deliver
justice, accountability, or genuine reconciliation. Instead, we have endured
continued impunity, militarization, unlawful land appropriation, and the
systematic erosion of Tamil civil and political rights. The time has come for
the international community to act decisively in pursuit of meaningful
justice.
Most of us, more than ninety percent are elderly mothers. We do not know
how much time we have left, and our deepest wish is to see justice served in
our lifetimes. Many of our loved ones have been missing for up to forty years.
We plead with you: on 25 September, adopt a resolution that ensures Sri
Lanka faces a credible international judicial process.
This is our one, true, and final plea.
General Secretary